Just another Christmas project
by ScottyBgood
Summary: Jade and Tori are working on a Christmas project for their kids. Just a slice of life piece that I hope entertains. I don't own the subject matter.


I don't own.

Also, this is way random. Just wanted to post something, and while the story grew, it went it's own way. You've been warned.

:}

It was the night before Christmas, and once again the West household echoed with yet another string of whispered profanities. Once again Jade found the instructions she was trying to follow, the easy to build instructions that were for anyone, had assumed that anyone had advanced degree in engineering, while minoring in linguistics. Across the yard, her wife, and mother of her children (The once's she didn't herself carry), Tori Vega worked on her parts of the projects. Past experience had taught them both it was often easier to just divide the labor, with Jade doing any building, while Tori would tackle whatever other tasks existed, assuming it required no construction of any type. they'd divided the labor, assigning the short tempered ex-goth the building, and Tori the other preparation tasks. That arrangement was come to just a couple of years ago, after the whole "Crumbling Barbie's Dream House" affair, and had stuck.

"Jade, please, if you're really having that much trouble, lets get someone in to do the building for us." Tori tried to reason with her wife. It was a recent argument, based on several factors, including their current level of success, as well as Tori's growing understanding of her wife's mindset. Jade may well have excelled at her prop building class, but the pale girl really wasn't psychologically balanced for this kind of job. Yes, Jade had issues, including control issues, but that was no excuse for making someone she loved watch her suffer like that.

Making things worse, beyond the fact that their children were entering the later single digits, and thus wanted the better toys, playhouses, and the like, was an unfortunate side effect of the artificial insemination process used. A higher tendency for twins, or more.

In fact, when they'd gotten pregnant, wanting to share the experience, something Jade swore she'd never do again, Tori had given birth to twins, while Jade had carried triplets, thus giving them five children from the first pregnancies. More then enough family. Then, the next year, they adopted a boy who was distantly related to Tori, and had no family willing to step up and claim him, they'd agreed that six was more then enough.

However, Tori had made a promise to Cat, something about being pregnant together, led to a second pregnancy for Tori. Cat, it seemed, had only carried a single child the first try out, and wanted to grow her family. Tori gave birth to yet another set of twins, while Cat once again only had the traditional single child, and Jade decided right then they were done providing the Vega's with grandchildren.

So now, with five girls around six years old, two at three, and little David taking up the middle ground at five years old, the girls found themselves with eight sets of new things to build. Build, because jade had realized the kids were at the age where they'd want a playhouse, and she felt they'd made enough money to have several, so as to avoid the massive wars that would be waged across the compound if the children tried ti share just one. But that meant that playhouses, and variants on that theme, had to be assembled, turning their yard into it's own small community. 'Each girl wanted their own home, their own business, and god, why'd we have to make so much money? I know, we can give our babies everything they never had, except now that includes us constructing whole towns out of plastic and wood, just for our girls.'

Then there were Tawney and Angie, two of Jade's litter. Those girls turned out to be identical twins, only with opposite personalities. Tawney, much to Jade's horror, was a sweet, cuddlesome girl who wanted to play house, wear pink faerie outfits, and in general try to outdo Cat as a homemaker. Angie, however, was the tomboy, rough and tumble, willing to go get dirty, not caring that mommy Tori would freak out once again when she trekked mud into the kitchen. 'I mean, sometimes, even at six, you need to know enough to anticipate questions like where on earth did you find mud? I know there wasn't any out there when we sent you out to play, and god help us, it hasn't rained in a while, so where did you find the mud?' Jade chuckled at that memory, that conversation, drawing a dark stare from her wife. 'Never did get an answer to that question.'

"You know what?" Tori announced. "I'm done. This whole project is just taking too long. I mean, I get it, we're parents. We assemble things for our girls. Plus, our kids, not that big into sharing." Her eyes darted sideways to her wife, narrowing slightly. "Not that I have a clue where they get THAT from."

"Trina can be a bad influence on them." Jade nodded, seeming to miss the whole point. 'Of course, she means I don't share. Like she has no clue what it's like being between her and that disgusting cheese she loves so much. The same stuff I just know most of our girls are gonna come to love, cause the gods totally hate me.'

"I'm talking about you, babe." Tori sighed. "Lets be honest, we're not gonna finish five dream houses, plus the extras, in the time before our little angels wake up and start tearing our house apart. No, it's time to surrender, hire things done."

"Like we could find anyone desperate enough to trek to our home at nine at night, then spend all night building these playhouses, not to mention getting it done and done right, to our specification, no mater what amount of money we promised." Jade sounded more exasperated then sarcastic, something that annoyed her. 'I can do this, Jame it. My girls are depending on me. Besides, I've got to make the sixth house for David, so he won't feel left out. He's the only boy here, and I get how that can make him feel sometimes...'

"Let me make some calls." Tori told the blue eyed girl, pulling the girl out of her own determined thoughts, even as the Latina walked towards the main house.

"Yea, you go get your beauty sleep, while I figure out what the hell possessed me not to just buy the cheap ass plastic houses that snap together." Jade griped.

"And I quote, 'We have a son, and those things are walking engines of destruction.' unquote." Tori called back from her spot on the porch. "Not that your daughter isn't trying her best to be that herself. If David is anything like his sisters, our home may not survive much longer. I mean, we've had the entire house pained in crayon resistant paint, and buy cleaner that says it'll wipe markers off walls by the gallon. Think about that, cause our kids are only now starting to get huge into drawing, so how much longer before the real destruction begins?" Her voice seemed to fade as she walked to the house, leaving Jade alone in the artificial light, a mound of work laying before her..

"Not ready to give up yet." Jade growled. "I didn't let Hollywood beat me, even when they blacklisted me. I found a way to make them take me back, making a ton of money along the way. If I can do that, I can build this giant version of Marwen for our girls." Her eyes held a lifetime of defiance. "And Dave, cause the boy, he's gonna wanna play with everything. Boy's like that."

Jade circled the project, looking for her opening, the piece that would help her get back on track, making this project a success. She had, as noted, another eleven structures waiting to be built.

"Out here, gentlemen." Tori's voice cut through the night, letting Jade know her wife was returning with reinforcements.

"Babe, whats this?" Jade asked, too tired to growl again. "Why are there strange men in our home?" her blue eyes tracked over said men, dressed in coveralls, wearing tool belts, and looking far better prepared for this task then jade was.

"These men are people I know and trust, from other projects I've needed to get done behind your back." Tori explained. "I realized that there was no way you'd be able to build a whole community by yourself, no mater how stubborn you were. These men, however, they're more then willing to work tonight, at a premium rate, to make our dream village a reality. Many of them build props for some of the lower budget films and television series, so they know how to make things, and can follow even these plans. Let them do the work, and in the morning, we'll wake up to find the whole yard transformed." The singer smiled. 'This is Carlos, the foreman."

"So we let them work all night..." Jade started.

"I have twelve men." Carlos announced, knowing to keep his voice down. "Plus tools you lack. Also, we've all done things like this before, and know exactly what we're doing. This job, big as it is, shouldn't take more then a couple of house. Tops. We'll be out of here by midnight, if not sooner. So why don't you go inside, finish your wrapping, or other preparations, or just watch 'It's a wonderful life', and we'll let you know when we're done."

Jade had no desire to abandon her work, but one look from those coffee brown eyes she loved told her this was for the good of their family. So, swallowing her pride, Jade fallowed her wife inside, to where they'd yet to start the wrapping of about a hundred gifts.

Only the gifts were wrapped. "Um..." Jade stuttered.

"Look, if I'm hiring something done, then I'm hiring it done." Tori told the pale girl. "We have about a dozen things to finish, not that many, then a movie to watch. Lets get cracking, fill those stalkings, cause I wanna see what our yard looks like before the munchkins wake up to invade."

The next morning Tori woke to find their brood already downstairs, fiddling with stockings or otherwise enjoying the fresh morning atmosphere that came with the new Christmas. 'Good thing we're rich, or spoiling those kids would wipe us out.' She thought, even as she cuddled with her wife. "Jade, the army's up and already playing. One of us needs to go tell them to have some breakfast, and you're the man of the relationship."

"What about the nanny?" Jade asked. They'd hired a few, over the years, but Tori always gave the women special holidays off.

"Nadya's off today." She reminded her love. "Mom's here, but what are the odds she's bothered to do anything me then sugar them up?"

Tori's parents had keys of their own, and would often come visit the grand-kiddies. David had retired, moving him and his wife to Ojai, a comfortable retirement community that was far more hippie then either of his kids would have guessed the former police officer would want to endure. At an hour and a half drive, it wasn't so far as to prevent the man from frequent visits. Plus, the West compound had a nice guest house for them. Frequent visits punctuated the older couples retirement, visiting the small legion of grand kids their offspring had brought into this world.

"God, I hope Katy's not hogging their attention." Jade noted, seeming to ignore the very real worry that Holly had brought treats, and their children would be vibrating with sugar based energy by the time they got downstairs.

Katrina, called Katy, was the oldest, beating Virginia by fifteen minutes, and Tawney by four days, the latter being a point of contention between the two women. Tori always held that while they'd gotten pregnant at the same time, she'd given birth first, as a sign that she was the superior mother. Jade just assumed that, like any small child, her wife wanted to win.

That's when the door burst open and Angie raced in, trailed by Jamie, the third of what many of their friends called the unholy trinity, a girl who bounced back and forth between her twin sisters attitudes and activities with an alarming ease. Today, the youngest of that brood by almost half an hour was Angie's henchwoman.

"Santa came, and he left a city." Angie screeched, alerting the two tired women to the fact that yes, their children had been outside.

"I'll go check on Candice and Amanda." Tori said, wanting to see how her three year olds were holding up in this confusion.

"Had to give them rhyming names, didn't you?" Jade once again asked, knowing that the only reason for using the girls full given names, other then letting the little one's know they were in trouble, was even the Vega grandparents would tease her about naming their kids Candy and Mandy.

However, Jade did get up, pulling her dressing gown on before heading out to see the full extent of the commotion. A quick glance out the window showed her grandpa David playing with little Dave in what she wanted to dub the hobbit hamlet, each enjoying the many wooden constructions that had sprung up over night. 'Damn, Tori's people did good work.' Jade groused to herself. 'Never gonna live that down now...'

She walked down to check on the kids, finding they had indeed eaten, but only due to the intervention of responsible adults. "Trina, didn't think you'd make it." Jade called out.

"Well, what else was I gonna do?" The older girl asked. "Little Tristan wanted to see his cousins. Boy gets so lonely sometimes."

Tristan was an interesting child, obviously not his fathers. Beck, it turned out, was sterile, a side effect from a childhood trauma he'd neglected to mention. He took up being the pregnant Trina's mate, mostly because the real father fled, and no one would contend with Beck claiming the boy as his own. But the half Asian Tristan was loved, and loved his cousins, even if he did think they were way immature. He was, after all, older by over a year. Seven, and in second grade, he lorded his superior experience over the girls. Dave worshiped him.

"Beck here?"

"Had to work." Trina griped. "News deck is taking advantage again. I swear, yes, they pay well, and he got promoted to local anchor really quickly, but that's no excuse for making him miss holidays with his family."

"He's scared of me, isn't he?" Jade asked.

"You, he can handle." Trina smiled. "The legion of the damned, however..."

"Hay, I birthed some of them." Jade protested. "So, where's Tristan?"

"Tawney's showing him 'Santa's Village.'" Trina pointed out. "You realize, even after they stop believing in Santa, it's never gonna live that name down."

Jade stopped. "Damn…." She sighed. "It was such a good idea when I though of it..."

:}

I had to end it here, because I ran out of time. I tried like six different stories that either were going way to dark, or otherwise didn't work, before even starting this, and this is what I had. Lets just blame Trump and lets move on. Hay, I published a Christmas story, in time, and I'm proud. Kinda.

Review, assuming anyone even reads this.

Happy holidays.


End file.
